Description:
A village meeting for herders of the Boundou Community Nature Reserve (120,000 ha, eastern Senegal), focused on the ecological importance of vultures (particularly their sanitary role in rapidly removing carcasses and limiting disease risk) and on the use of the vulture feeding site recently established in the village. The morning combines a picture-based icebreaker, a show-of-hands questionnaire on perceptions of scavengers, and a teaching session on the services vultures provide. The afternoon is devoted to how the site will run in practice: appointing a site manager and signing a commitment charter. A local veterinarian explains common veterinary treatments and the withdrawal periods to observe before any carcass is brought to the site.